Enough With Dreaming

OK, so I have been scheming and I think it's time to do rather than just dream and think about everything. I think that I may be able to, baby step at a time, wiggle and finagle my way into homesteading while I am still here in the city.

It is going to take some planning, but I am going to make up a plan and present it to my family. As long as the family feels this is something we want to do, then we can step in and start making things happen.

Certainly, there are laws to be considered and things we cannot do. We also have to take into account our family budget. This should be an interesting exercise.

And I'll need a launch date. I think Jan. 1 2011 sounds ideal.

Dreaming Out Loud

So, my big dream is to be able to have my self-sufficient homestead. While having that, I want my kids to have every advantage of modern life. I don't want it to be huge, but I want to be able to expand.

I'm thinking:

10+ acres, most likely in Washington State.

A house (duh)

A barn ('nother duh)

Garden areas (multiple)

Pasture

Smokehouse

Underground cellar

Orchard

Poultry 'out' houses (separate from barn).

I want each type of animal to have its place. I also want to focus on heritage breeds that are dying out. (Which is why I turned to albc-usa.org.

With cattle, I was leaning towards Dexters, as they are gentle, small, and multi-purpose. However, they are recovering at an insane pace and are hugely popular now, so I have been researching other cattle breeds. Right now I am leaning towards Kerry cattle, or Milking Devon cattle.

With horses I have my passion-- which is Shires, but I also have a passion for the English Pony breeds. Dartmoors or Exmoors are a thought. However, if I can only do one breed-- Shires are critical endangered. And they are my favorite horse breed. Ever.

With pigs, I have a total obsession with Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs. They are amazing, with big old ears. They remind me of the illustration from Charlotte's Web, when they are at the fair and meet the HUGE hog they are competing against.

I would like to do some sheep, and my current interest is in the Leicester Longwool.

I want to have a variety of chickens, like the American Buckeye, and the Russion Orloff...

Ducks, I haven't decided yet.

Geese, I am between Pilgrim and American Buff.

Turkeys, I want the Jersey Buff.

Curious about what any of these are? Check out albc-usa.org.

Focus

Right now I am just very focused on having an income myself, so that if anything happens and I am suddenly on my own with three boys I can support myself from home.

I won't pretend it's not challenging. It really is. I TRULY believe in the company, though, and that makes me realize that it's a good match for me.

The only way I'm going to be able to live my dreams is if I create them myself. Under what circumstances I live that dream, I don't know, but I will get there and I will work as hard as I can to get there.

Right now I am assisting non-profits with getting fundraising started. I like the program, because they get to sign up for free, they get all of the money, and I get pv (points) for introducing them to the company. I also get to pick and choose for causes I like, so that's a nice thing.

Things have been all over the place lately and it's really hard not to get discouraged. I just keep truckin' along and, hopefully, there will be some kind of destination that I can live with.

Back to the grind...

I haven't written since March, which is interesting, and does nothing but prove me to be delinquent and/or boring when it comes to my blog posts. Since March we have 1) Sold our Goats 2) Bought ducks, had them reproduce and then sold the offspring as well as the parents 3) Shipped the chickens off to live with my MIL and 4) added three small dogs to the family.

Not all the surprising, I suppose.

I have been working some on my latest book, but I don't get that much time to myself. Kasen, now almost a year old, can crawl super-fast and is very clingy. He had ear tubes put in in June and now is doing early talking. He also loves music and dancing and will dance anytime he hears anything that might remotely resemble music-- like Mommy chanting "Noah put your clothes on." Over and over again.

Summer just isn't my thing. It's hot and miserable and usually includes, for me, and did this year, insomnia and other health issues getting worse. So, I like to pretend I can skip summer and get to the good stuff...

Which is the fact that my boys are ALL having birthdays soon! It's crazy!

And Kevin is back in school, which I HATE HATE HATE. Grrrrr. I'd rather have him at home with me anytime. Plus, I just can't seem to get into the groove of getting stuff done when I have to force the Nudist to get dressed and usually wake Kasen up from a nap purely to go stand in the heat and have his teacher be 20 minutes late out of school again. Oh, well, at least it doesn't bother him.

I'm getting started on Shaklee again. I'm going to spruce up our income and feel a little more independent, or a little less dependent at least. I'm very excited about some of the new products (chew vitamins for learning for kids for example) and the reinstatement of the car program. We could really use access to a car that doesn't break down for kicks.

The Hubby is still in the process of getting a job. Still. A year later. Blah blah blah.

I just figured out what I hate about blogging. If I wrote about anything real then I would be a HORRIBLE PERSON. So I end up talking about fluff. Poofy boring fluff. Because I'm not stupid enough to air my dirty laundry ;)

Pic of the Day

Homesteading

The garden is up and growing. I, despite a bad spill this morning, got a solid pint of milk from Sugar.

Got three eggs this morning-- one duck and two polish chicken.

I am really happy right now. I have my homestead!